IFRS Essentials

IAS 1 PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1 INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE

IAS 1 primarily addresses the presentation of financial statements and can be divided into three large areas:

• General guidelines going beyond presentation issues (e.g. going concern).
• General principles relating to presentation (e.g. offsetting, consistency of presentation, and comparative information).
• Structure and content of the financial statements and most of its components (statement of financial position, statement of comprehensive income, separate income statement, statement of changes in equity, and notes).

With regard to recognition and measurement, IAS 1 refers to other IFRSs (IAS 1.3).

2 GOING CONCERN

When preparing financial statements, management has to make an assessment of the entity's ability to continue as a going concern. Financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis unless management either intends to liquidate the entity or to cease trading, or has no realistic alternative but to do so. When management is aware, in making its assessment, of material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt upon the entity's ability to continue as a going concern, those uncertainties have to be disclosed. When financial statements are not prepared on a going concern basis, that fact has to be disclosed, together with the basis on which the financial statements were prepared and the reason why the entity is not regarded as a going concern. In assessing whether ...